diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
deleted file mode 100644
index 95d7636..0000000
--- a/COPYING
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-See LICENSE
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
deleted file mode 100644
index 2f27908..0000000
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-see NEWS.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1a422be..0740f5c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ AC_INIT([flux-coral2],
         m4_esyscmd([git describe --always | awk '/.*/ {sub(/^v/, ""); printf "%s",$1; exit}']))
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([config])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([config])
-AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([NEWS])
+AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([NEWS.md])
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([subdir-objects tar-ustar filename-length-max=256])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([subdir-objects tar-ustar filename-length-max=256 foreign])
 AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])
 AM_CONFIG_HEADER([config.h])
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE([enable])